Activity 1: “Drafting Professional Customer Responses with Claude”

Many SMEs struggle to respond quickly and consistently to common customer questions. In this activity, you will use Claude to generate professional, on-brand responses to frequently asked questions, helping you save time and maintain quality. Your task is to draft clear, accurate answers and review them for suitability before using them in automated systems or staff reference.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. List common customer questions:
   • Identify 5–10 FAQs for your SME (e.g., “Do you ship internationally?” or “How can I return a product?”).
2. Generate AI responses with Claude:
   • Access Claude
   • Enter each question and prompt Claude to draft a professional response appropriate for your SME.
   • Review and edit responses to match your brand’s tone and style.
3. Simulate customer interaction:
   • Ask Claude to generate a response to a new sample inquiry not in your FAQ list.
   • Compare drafts and select the most suitable response.
4. Reflect on output:
   • Consider how Claude’s suggestions could save time for staff.
   • Identify responses that may still require human review or adjustment.

Activity 2: “Exploring Automated Customer Support with Tidio (Workspace Simulation)”

Many SME workers do not have technical or administrative access to directly integrate AI tools into their company websites. In this activity, you will explore the Tidio platform in a sandbox-like environment, focusing on building and testing automated replies within the Tidio workspace. This allows you to understand how AI chatbots behave, how conversations are structured, and how human handover can be managed—without requiring website integration.

The task is to configure automated responses, simulate customer interactions, and evaluate the chatbot’s effectiveness in handling common support scenarios.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Access the Tidio workspace

• Visit www.tidio.com and sign up for a free trial account.
• Log into the Tidio dashboard and access the chatbot or automation section.
• No website connection is required for this activity.

2. Create automated replies for common customer questions

• Use 3–5 of the AI-generated responses created in Activity 1 with Claude.
• Configure these as automated replies or chatbot responses within Tidio.
• Define clear trigger questions or keywords (e.g., shipping, returns, opening hours).

3. Configure human handover rules

• Set up conditions where the chatbot should escalate the conversation to a human agent (e.g., unclear intent, negative sentiment, complex requests).
• Observe how Tidio flags conversations that require human intervention.

4. Test chatbot behaviour in preview mode

• Use Tidio’s preview or test mode to simulate customer interactions.
• Enter different types of questions (simple, ambiguous, or unexpected).
• Observe response accuracy, tone, and flow of the conversation.

5. Reflect on performance and limitations

• Identify which types of queries are well handled by automation.
• Note situations where human review or intervention would be necessary.
• Consider how this setup could support (not replace) customer service staff.

Outcome:
By completing this activity, learners will gain hands-on experience with the Tidio platform, understand how AI-driven chatbots are configured and tested, and develop realistic expectations about their strengths and limitations. Learners will also better understand the importance of human oversight and gradual adoption before full deployment in an SME environment.